My photographic adventures on the other side of the world

December 6, 2016

Australiana

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After arriving in Australia I busied myself with the normal activities, seeing friends and family and getting sick. Unfortunately, I seem to get sick every time that I make a long journey and it puts paid to many of my plans. I also means that I haven’t had many chances to go out and take photos, so I’ve decided to use what I have to make a first impressions post. My views on the uniqueness of Australia, if you will.

For my one short photo excursion this week I headed down to Port Noarlunga, which is just a stones throw from where I grew up. The photo here is of the Onkaparinga River just before it flows into the sea. There are a few things that I wanted to convey here, from the picturesque white sands and turquoise water, to the dearth of people enjoying the fantastic conditions.

Just around the corner things are somewhat rougher, with reefs, rocks and cliffs that are prone to crumbling. The objective for this shot was to practice doing some long exposures and with the help of a 10-stop neutral density filter I was able to increase the exposure time to around 10 seconds. Using such a slow shutter speed I was able to smooth out the waves and get the water looking silky smooth.

Australian animals, particularly deadly ones, are one of the first topics of conversation after I tell someone where I grew up. Cats do not normally come up in these discussions, probably because they aren’t much threat to humans, but are deadly in their own right to Australian native animals.

It is for this reason that many councils have enacted a partial, or even full, curfew for cats. A great idea, I reckon. In the photo above Evie sits inside her purpose built cat run and stretches inquisitively towards the camera. Here I wanted to play with perspective, so I fitted a wide angle lens, set a large aperture and got really close. Lucky for me that Evie likes modelling!

I did make some trips to family events during the week, one of which was to an indoor soccer game to watch my youngest brother play. Here I wanted to capture the moment before the strike, the one that is still filled with promise. So what do you think? Do you find yourself wanting to know what comes next?

Sport is not just for kids however, it is a bit of a national obsession. For many people it is the most important thing in their lives and I know parents that have just one day per week where they aren’t taking their kids to games or training sessions. The good weather probably has a lot to do with it!

First off, I need to apologise for this one. I didn’t have access to a professional foot model, so I had to jump in here. Seriously though, I hadn’t been here a week and already had a thong tan. Thongs as in flip-flops that is, and not something else… Also, walking around barefoot is practically an Australian pastime, so I thought I would combine the two for something truly Australian.